Impact ABCs: Food Waste

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As James Beard famously said, "food is our common ground." We all share the experience of considering how to feed ourselves and our families—what to buy, what to make, when to eat. Those decisions may seem subjective and straightforward, but as you move beyond the quotidian and start thinking about how that meal gets to your plate, things get a little more complicated. The passionate cooks and eaters of tomorrow need to not only know how to whip up a delicious meal, but also what our choices mean for our food system as a whole. That’s why, in support of the JBF Impact Programs, we present this ongoing series on common food-policy terms: Impact ABCs. So dig in, get invested, and learn how you can make a difference in improving what’s on our global table.

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Food Waste, according to the USDA, refers to any food produced for human consumption that is not ultimately eaten. Some organizations, like the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) break down the overall issue into “food loss,” which occurs in the supply chain before food hits retailers (i.e., at harvesting, post-harvesting, processing, or distribution); and food waste, which occurs at the retail and consumption stages. For example, fruit or vegetables that are not picked or packaged for supermarkets because of cosmetic blemishes (cracks on apples, or misshapen carrots) are considered “food loss,” because they never even make it to store shelves. The pile of French fries you could only get halfway through at the restaurant that gets tossed in the trash, or the spoiled milk in your fridge, on the other hand, are considered “food waste.”